Customer Service

02/19/2017

How to be a Customer Service Hero

Customer Service is about creating positive memories for your customers.  But these memorable events typically are not created during "business as usual."  
 
They happen when there is a breakdown in the normal process.  They happen when something is standing in the way of completing the service transaction.  
 
The memory is created when the customer service person does something to overcome, or get past the breakdown to complete the transaction, as the customer would want it.  
 
BreakdownHeroic actions are positive things that neither the business owner, employer or customer would expect the employee to do.
 
Here's an example:  
Friday evening, my wife and I had dinner at a local Irish Pub.  She ordered a Caesar Salad.  After a moment, the server returned to tell my wife that they were out of Caesar dressing, and suggested 
 a garden salad instead.
 
The server missed an opportunity to be a hero.
 
50 yards away from the Irish Pub is a large supermarket that stocks several brands of Caesar Salad dressings.  They also stock all the ingredients to make it from scratch.  It was a quiet night at the  Pub, and there were plenty of staff available to take 10 minutes out, to go and purchase the dressing.  
 
Had someone done so, my wife would have enjoyed her Caesar Salad.  And more importantly, our customer experience would have been dramatically different.  And so would our loyalty to the Pub.
 
But the server wasn't thinking outside the scope of the routine transaction.  And my wife and I were left with a routine experience.
 
Great customer experience moments often occur during a breakdown in the transaction, or when something goes wrong.  But only if the person delivering the  service takes the initiative to go beyond the routine; to go outside the scope of the standard transaction.
 
4 Steps to create a Customer Service Hero Culture: 
  1. Think about the breaks from the routine in your business, that create opportunities for your employees to become heroes to your customers.
  2. Create a plan for what to do, for each of these breakdowns.
  3. Communication the plan to the  employees.
  4. Then ask the employees to think of other breakdowns that occur.  Chances are, they'll be able to think of more than you did.  And doing so will put them in a hero mindset, and cultivate a Customer Service Hero Culture.
 
How would your employees have handled that Caesar Salad episode?   Would they have gone out to buy the dressing?
 
Caesar Salad!

Posted at 04:58 PM in Customer Service | | Comments (0)

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12/18/2015

What is the customer's responsibility in the customer experience?

For customer service to excel - truly excel - each of the three players involved in the customer experience is responsible to make it happen, much like a 3-legged stool:
 
  1. 3 Legged StoolThe employer 
  2. The employee
  3. The customer 
 
No one will argue about the first two, but some might question the third.  After all, the customer is always right, right?  But let's think about this for a minute...
 
The employer's role is to keep the employee happy. They do this by:
 
  • Setting clear expectations, and connecting the dots between the employee's job, the company's goals, and the customer experience.
  • Helping employees feel valued.
  • Create a productive atmosphere.
  • Involve employees in appropriate company decisions.
 
The employee's role is to keep  the customer happy  They do this by:
  • Actively listening to the customer - not just "hearing" what they say.
  • Taking ownership of the issue by using whatever means are necessary to get the job done.
  • See the issue from the customer's perspective - use empathy.
  • Resolve the issue entirely.
 
So, then - what's the  customer's role?
The customer's role is to treat the employee with respect and empathy - not unlike the employer's role.
Here's where I expect a lot of readers to say, "No, that's not true - I'm the paying customer - without me, the employee has no job, and the employer has no business. My role is soley to make the purchase."
 
Customers can impact their own experience.
 
I've been there -  and I suspect you have too. I remember being stranded in an airline terminal, and being less-than-reasonable with the airline's customer service representative.  Despite my rudeness, he remained polite, calmly explained the situation, and I begrudgingly accepted it.  I walked away felling less than satisfied - the outcome didn't put me in a better position, and I didn't feel particularly good about myself after giving the guy such a hard time.  After all, the flight delay wasn't his fault.
 
Contrast this with a similar situation, when I went out of my way to be empathetic and compassionate with the service representative.  In return, I felt like I was receiving a more personal treatment - the representative quietly gave me a restaurant voucher so that I could enjoy enjoy dinner in the terminal, while I waited out the delay.  Yes, my customer experience was a better one the second time, and I suspect it had a lot to do with the way I acted toward the employee.
 
I'm not saying that as customers, we should treat our servers better so that we can get more from, but I am saying that if we make it a point to treat them better - with empathy, compassion and respect every time out, we just might trigger some customer service karma that will make the experience better for everyone - including us.
 
Smiling customer with Airline CSR
 
 

Posted at 06:27 AM in Customer Experience, Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (0)

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01/23/2015

Hire people you're willing to trust. Then trust them.

I called my bank the other day to ask them to reverse a service charge.  Technically, the charge was my fault.  But given the details of the situation, I felt I had a good case for waiving the fee.  My optimistic self thought I'd spend a few minutes explaining the case to a customer service rep, before pleading my case to a supervisor. 
 
Hands are tiedMuch to my delight, the customer service rep refunded the service charge.  She said, "Mr. Watson, even though the bank policy is to enforce the service charge, I think your situation is unique, so I'm going to credit your account."
 
In that instance, my view of the bank changed from a faceless institution that knew me as an account number, to a group of reasonable, understanding people that actually cared about me.  They created a happy memory for me, and a story that I wanted to tell.
 
What exactly did my bank do, that other customer service organizations don't?  They let their first level agents make a judgment call.
 
When a first-level customer service agent is allowed to make a judgement call, it impacts the customer three important ways:
 
The customer's anxiety is immediately diffused.
When a customer calls to right what they feel is a wrong, they're already fueled with negative emotions.  When the CSR isn't allowed to say "Yes," their default response is "No."  And the "No" response will only increase anxiety.  Giving that first person the right to say "yes" when it's warranted, can quickly diffuse the anger before it increases.
 
The customer sees the company differently.
When a first-level CSR is able to meet the customers need, that tells the customer that the company is focused on the customer; not themselves and their policies.  And this kind of impression is what builds loyalty.
 
The customer's time is respected.
The only thing worse than feeling you've been treated unfairly is having to spend a lot of precious time correcting the issue.  When first-level agents are empowered to make more decisions, the customer isn't forced to spend even more time at level two.  Customers can feel the difference.
 
What was refreshing was the fact that a CSR was allowed to make a judgement call, apply naturally common sense, and delight the customer.  Too often, CSR's are trained to enforce policy rather than make good decisions to create good relationships.  
 
There's a formula for getting there, that's actually quite simple:
 
Hire people that you're willing to trust. Then trust them.
Trust

Posted at 08:22 AM in Contact Center, Customer Service, Trust & Transparency | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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01/14/2015

What is a customer service mindset?

(This article was originally served in November of 2013.  New links have since been added to revise and refresh your reader experience!   Enjoy!)

It drives me crazy when a front-line employee can solve a problem, but  can't.

They can because they see the problem, they see the cause, and directly observe the customer's frustration, as it happens.   They can't, because they're not given the authority to fix it, nor incented to step outside of their area responsibilities to take action.

Here's a recent example, to illustrate what I'm talking about:

I was at an airport seated at the departure gate of a flight to Orlando, FL.  The lighted sign above gate showed a different flight number, and a different city (Tampa).  It was still about 40 minutes before my scheduled departure, when passengers began boarding.  

Employee stuck in a boxBecause it was still relatively early, and because the monitor still showed "Tampa" with the other flight number, I assumed that it was not my flight that was boarding.  I was wrong, and so were several other passengers that were more focused on the sign at the gate, than the  PA announcements telling us that the sign was incorrect.

The gate agent told me that the sign was "stuck" on Tampa; that the sign had not changed over the past two days.  An easy solution, I thought, would have been for the gate agents to post hand-written signs with the correct information, next to or over the electronic sign.  For whatever reason (lack of authority, lack of will or desire, etc.), nothing was  done to address the root cause of the problem.

Instead, the problem persisted, because the gate agents didn't take the intiative to correct it.  The result was two days of frustration for the airlines' customers, and the airlines' employees - the gate agents.  

Here's the point:

Front-line employees ought to be given the and mindset to think and act outside their normal responsibilities to take action,  particualry when that action will prevent a negative customer experience, or, create a more positive one.

FedEx drop box frozenThere're some legendary examples of this in the business literature, like the FedEx driver in January in Minneapolis, on finding a FedEx drop box frozen shut, opted to back over the box to uproot it from the concrete so its contents would not be delivered late.  Uprooting a drop box was beyond the scope of his employment, but doing it enabled his employer to live up to its promise.

There's the story of the Zappo's CSR having a pizza delivered to a "customer" at a hotel.  Zappo's normally doesn't sell pizza, but this customer really wanted pizza, and the  CSR got creative to make it happen.

There's the Ritz Carlton story of the employee that built a ramp so a wheelchair-bound guest could go down to the beach during his stay.

Yes, these are extreme examples because the employees were all  trained to "do what it takes" to help the customer achieve the results they purchased.

Mindset action resultsThese legendary customer service examples occuured, because their organizations nurture a culture of "doing whatever it takes" to correct problems, and create improvements to make for a more positive customer experience.  And because the employees are encouraged, and given the latitude to take more drastic-than-normal steps to make it all happen.

Do your employees feel empowered to take steps outside their normal responsibilities, to deliver a better experience?

 

Posted at 10:27 AM in Customer Experience, Customer Service, Employees First | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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01/09/2015

Why I love about Delta's one-question survey.

"Would you hire this person to work for you?"

That was the only question that I had to answer after a phone call with Delta Customer Service; that was the entire survey.  And it was a very good one for two reasons:

Delta didn't waste my time.    A one-question survey that can be answered with one word takes very little time; so little in fact, that I liked Delta more after completing the survey, because I flet they respected my time.  Long surveys can actually do more harm than good by alienating customers.  Show your customers some respect, by keeping your surveys short. Nobody likes a lenghty interrogation.

Customer interrogationThe challenge is getting enough quality insight from the customer to make the surey response beneficial to the business.  That's why it's important to ask a certain type of question...

Delta got a lot of value in return.  They asked me a very "pithy" question that drove right to the heart of the matter:  The quality of Customer Service is a function of the quality of the people delivering the service.  And if you ask me if I'd actually hire the person that served me, I can't hide behind a "nice guy" feel-good response.  I'm put in a position to give you an honest answer - or tell an outright lie (highly unlikey for most customers, especially when they're givng the answer by tapping a number on their telephone keypad).

Too many surveys ask light-weight questions like:

"Was the representative courteous?"  

"Please rate your experience on a scale of 1 to 5."  

Questions like that let the customer off easy; they skirt the real issue.  And the real issue is: Did the service experience leave the customer feeling like they're buying from a first-class company?   (Customers never stop buying from companies they consider to be first-class.)  

Don't hesitate to put your customers on the spot, because we customers don't mind telling you what we really think.  In fact, we prefer it. And so will you, because you'll have feedback that's more meaningful, and more useful.  And that's why you're doing the survey in the first place, isn't it?

 How many questions were on the last survey  you asked a customer to take their precious time to complete?
 
Do you ask pithy questions that elicit real answers that you can act on?
 
Eureka moment
Do your survey questions generate "Eureka" moments of insight?

Posted at 08:00 AM in Best Practices, Customer Service, Metrics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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12/02/2014

5 Reasons why 2-Way Reviews improve the Service Ecosystem

As customers, we're used to being asked to rate the companies we buy from.

But now,  companies  are beginning to rate the customers they sell to.  Sure, lots of CRM-savvy companies have  rated customers for loyalty-tracking, but they kept that information to themselves. What's different now is that companies like Uber, , are rating customers, and sharing those ratings with other service providers.  And the service providers then use ratings to decide if they want to sell to those customers, or NOT.

Rude customersAccording to a December 1 article in the New York Times,  "The rating systems are allowing businesses to formalize a longstanding practice: focusing on their best customers.

"The worst customers “demand too much, complain too much and cost too much,” said Christopher Muller, professor of hospitality management at Boston University.

"Beyond that, he said, bad clients make employees unhappy. Companies, he said, do better by spending time on their best and most profitable patrons. “It sounds draconian, but not all customers are created equal,” he said."

In the past, if a restaurant received too many (legitimate) negative reviews about its menu, it would likely respond by to the menu to delight more customers.  Similarly, if a customer finds that he or she is being denied service, because they've been rude to other service providers, the customer is more likely clean up his act, and become a better customer.   The result of these 2-way reviews is a greater population of good customers.

Here's where this can be a good  thing for everyone:

  1. If bad customers cost a company too much, then fewer bad customers can mean lower costs.
  2. If bad clients make employees unhappy, then fewer bad clients mean happier employees.
  3. Happier employees tend to be more engaged at work and invest more discretionary effort into delivering a better customer experience.
  4. A better customer experience is always good for the customer, right?
  5. A better cusutomer experience means fewer unhappy customers.

So there we have it - while the 2-way review may seem unconventional, in the end it can create a virtuous cycle that improves the service environment for everyone!

What other  benefits do you see, from 2-way reviews?

  Happy service ecosystem

Posted at 10:53 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Employee Engagement, Employees First | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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08/07/2014

Does Rite Aid really tell its employees not to help customers, when on a break?!

I'll admit it - there are times when I don't have enough empathy for  some customer-facing employees...

But shouldn't all employees be trained to put their customers' needs first???

Earlier this week, I was looking for an item in a Rite-Aid store in Portland, Maine.  I approached a person in a Rite-Aid uniform walking quickly down an aisle, and said, "Excuse me, do you know if you have..."

The woman said - with a straight face - "Can you ask someone else - I'm on break."

Rite Aid_ with us its personalMy immediate thought:  I'd never, ever hire that person for anything. To paraphrase Rite Aid's own mantra, with me, it was personal.

I politely asked her to explain, and  she told me that if she were to help me, per company policy, she'd have to clock back in first; it would be easier if I asked someone else.

I later asked some other people that work in hourly positions how they felt about the woman's response.   The overwhelming response was, "You need to have some empathy for low-paid hourly workers;  they're on their feet for eight hours, and when they finally get a break, they should be allowed to enjoy the few minutes to themselves.  If they respond to every customer question, they'll never get to take a break!"

OK, I get that.  But how to balance the employee's needs with those of the customer in these situations???

The best answer I can come up with is one that I learned from an hourly employee in a business that's known for customer service:  The LL Bean Retail Store in Freeport, Maine.

The Bean's employee told me that whenver an employee goes on break, they're careful to wear a sweater or sweathirt over their green LL Bean shirt.  In other words, the employees 'wear a disguise' when they're on break.

The disguise prevents the customer from recognizing the employee as an employee of the store, and therefore, the potentially awkward encounter is avoided.   

If you're a manager or employer, it makes sense to teach this approach to employees during the onboarding process; it'll build their confidence in you as a manager that truly cares for your employees, and puts each employee in the right frame of mind to properly handle (or "prevent") these situations before they arise.

Sometimes, the best way to handle an awkward situation is to prevent it from happening.

What do you think?

Groucho glasses disguise

Posted at 06:06 PM in Best Practices, Customer Service, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

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01/06/2014

When customers complain, treat them like grown-ups (or, a 3-Step process to win them back)

This past Christmas, I ordered a  couple gifts for my wife through Red Envelope.  The shipments arrived on separate days, but each one was in a box that appeared to have been packed in a hurry - items were rattling around inside, and both packages looked like they'd been opened, then taped shut again.  One of the two boxes as still open at one end, when I received it.  Fortunately, the contents were unharmed.

Damaged boxSeveral days later, I received an email from Red Envelope, asking me to complete a satisfaction survey.  I did.  I told them that I (and more important, my wife) loved the products, but found the packaging to be sub-par.

A Redbox Customer Service Representative replied with an apology, and a 20% discount off of my next purchase.  He made no mention of Redbox taking steps to correct the problem that I reported - shoddy packaging.

I was disappointed with the response - I - the customer - wanted to talk about fixing a packaging problem, and they - the seller - wanted to get me to stop crying by sticking a 20%-off-my-next-purchase lollipop into my mouth.

This appears to be a common practice among merchants - when a customer complains, shut them up by giving them a discount.   How about addressing the actual problem, and telling the customer about that?

As customers, we like to be taken seriously; we like to be treated as adults.  Sure, receiving a discount is always nice, but a seller should not lead with the discount.  Instead, try the following 3-step "Triple-A" approach to responding to a customer complaint:

  1. Apologize - Give a sincere, empathetic  (but not over-the-top) apology for whatever it was that the customer complained about. 
  2. Address the issue - Speak directly to the issue raised by the customer; seek more input from them; discuss (but don't defend) why the issue occurred, and what (if known) will be done to prevent the issue from occurring in the future.
  3. Add value to the conversation - Only after you've you've covered the first two steps, should you present the discount.  At this point, you'll have established credibility by talking about what the customer wanted to  talk about, and the customer will more likely accept the gift with open arms.

When customers complain, or offer constructive criticism, it's your job to take them seriously, and treat them seriously.  Discounts alone are dismissive. 

You wouldn't want your customers to be dismissive of you and your business, would you???

  Crying baby with pacifier

Posted at 08:05 AM in Communication, Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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04/26/2013

Great Customer Service is About Doing the Basics Well.

 
Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach once said:

Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist; but football is only two things - blocking and tackling."
 
LombardiIn any endeavor, if you can identify the basics, and practice them to the point where you can execute them consistently well, you'll be successful.
 
This week, I called the Internal Revenue Service.  Just the idea of having to call the IRS conjures negative thoughts.  In fact, the call began just that way:  I navigated the phone menu correctly on just my second attempt.  Then I waited on hold for about five minutes.  Seven precious minutes invested, and no progress.
 
At this point, I felt myself taking on that irate customer posture - after all, it was my right as a citizen and a taxpayer.  By the eighth minute, I was completely caught off guard.  A live agent greeted me (we'll call him Bob), and after a couple quick questions to verify that I was who I said I was, Bob got right down to business.  His demeanor was calm and slightly upbeat, and he really seemed to care.  Bob showed empathy.
 
I explained why I was calling, and Bob listened.  He carefully repeated what I told him, then asked me to hold; he said he'd be back in under three minutes.  Bob was back on the line after two minutes and 30 seconds.  (Yes, I timed him.)  Bob set clear expectations, and lived up to them.
 
When Bob returned, he had a solution.  He explained it clearly, and with conviction.  I believed  Bob.  His confidence became my confidence.  I was glad I called, and felt  good about the solution.  Bob showed confidence.
 
An experience that began with all the markings of something bad, actually turned out to be something good - a very positive customer experience.  And the fact that this happened with the IRS made it even more impressive.
 
The things that Bob did so well were the basics of customer service:
  1. He showed empathy.
    Bob came across as a human - a human who cared.  Empathy at the start of a call can set the stage for a successful call.  Always begin with empathy.
  2.  He made a point to earn my trust.
    Bob listened to me.  And to prove that he listened, he repeated back what I told him.  That gave me confidence in Bob.  Always earn your customer's trust by listening carefully, and repeating back what the customer told you.
  3. He found the right solution.  
    Bob didn't immediately know the answer, so he consulted with a colleague to find the right answer - and in the process, he told me exactly what he'd be doing, and how long it would take. Bob was transparent.  And that increased my trust in Bob.
    Customer service is never an easy business, particularly when it's delivered over the telephone, and especially when your customers expect a bad experience.  But when an agent focuses on the basics, and executes them well, the chances for a positive customer experience increase dramatically.
     
    Think of some of your best customer service experiences.  What made them great?
     
    The basics

    Posted at 05:00 AM in Communication, Contact Center, Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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    04/17/2013

    3 Ways to Make your Satisfaction Suveys more Customer-Centric

    Last week, I received seven customer satisifactoin surveys from companies that I did business with the previous week.  Those surveys ranged from the Dunkin Donuts Satisfaction Survey from a $2.21 coffee purchase, to a Delta Airlines Satisfaction Survey for a $721 flight.

    The Problem with Most Surveys
    DD receipt (3)There's something that I've noticed about most of these surveys: they're more about the product, than about the customer.  
    In a customer-centric world, this isn't right, is it? 
    Of last week's seven surveys, most contaied a lot of detailed questions about things I didn't even notice during my use of the product or service.  
     
    The survey I received after a two-night hotel stay asked me to rate my satisfaction with the following:
     
    • The friendliness of the receptionist at the front desk
    • The availability of towels at the pool
    • The variety of food in the restaurant
     
    Those questions are more about the product, than they are about the customer.  Here's why I say that:
     
    When I stay at a hotel, especially for business, the friendliness of the receptionist at the front desk isn't that important to me.  What matters is how fast and how efficient they are in getting me checked in.
     
    When I stay at a hotel, the variety of the food in the restaurant isn't that important to me.  If I go to the hotel restaurant, I do it for more for the convenience, and less for the menu.
     
    The best surveys that I've seen - the most customer-centric surveys that I've seen, are the ones that ask me what's important to me.
     
    Here are three characteristics of satisfaction surveys, that make them customer-centric:
     
    They ask me what's important to me.  Each question that asks me to rate a feature (on a scale of 1 to 5, or 1 - 10) will also ask me to rate how important that feature is to me (on that same scale).  You don't want to invest in improving features that are not important to the customer!
    
     
    They contain open-ended questions.  No survey can cover every possible question (Don't even try it, because as the number of questions increases, the number of quality responses decreases.).  So, ask an open-ended questions, to allow the customer to you what's important to them, and how well you executed on it.  After all, that's the stuff to focus on.
     
     
    They ask the "Ultimate Question."  And remember to ask the Ultimate Question: would I recommend you?  if yes, why.  If no, why not. Because when all is said an done, knowing what you need to improve upon (or continuing doing well), in order to generate word-of-mouth marketing, is what surveys should be all about.
     
    What's the most "customer-centric" satisfaction survey that you've received, and what made it that customer-centric?
    Ask better questions

    Posted at 05:00 AM in Best Practices, Customer Journey, Customer Knowledge, Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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